After much playing time over the weekend, I can finally bring to you a short review of Gran Turismo 5.

What’s so different?
Unlike previous versions of the game, Gran Turismo 5 allows users to play online against other Playstation 3 users; and also the major cool thing about the game is there are over 2000+ cars with further downloads being made available in the near future.

First Impressions
In a nutshell – outstanding! When the games FMV started, I had goosebumps (literally!). With the movie starting in space and gradually coming down into a pit garage, the game lets you hear the soundtrack which any car fanatic loves – the sound of a beautiful V8 engine.

After the first 10 seconds, my smile was SO wide that the 2012 Olympic committee contacted me to ask if they could use my mouth in the 100m hurdles! After the starting movie the game introduced its vast collection of cars and tracks from the past, present and future.

The First Race
After much deliberation I opted to take my first dream car, the Ferrari F40, out on the Trial Mountain track….3-2-1-GO!! With the background music turned down and the car sound effects on full, the sheer noise of the car when I pulled away from the starting grid was like a punch from Mike Tyson – breathtaking!

With the track being from the very first Gran Turismo which I mastered, I thought taking the F40 round would be easy…..WRONG!! I’ve heard this new edition of Gran Turismo is as realistic as they come and there not wrong. Touch a bit of grass when coming in or out of a corner, the car will test your car control; get your braking wrong in a corner, your gone; putting it simply, if you think you can throw the car into corners like other games, your wrong. It’s either perfect or not!

GT Career – the First Car!
With only 20,000 credits to spend on a first car, I went around the various dealers and discovered I only buy a new Daihatsu….that wasn’t going to happen! Thankfully there is a list of used cars which ranged from the very first 60+ bhp Fiat 500 to a low mileage Maserati; but because it was my first car, I was only allowed to by a Level 0 car (I’ll explain more later). Now your thinking your options are going to be along lines of the 60+ bhp Fiat 500 or the Daihatsu I mentioned earlier; but no your wrong because for 17,500 credits I bought a 187bhp Misubishi FTO.

After a car wash and a change of oil, I entered the Sunday Cup with my FTO and absolutely blew everyone away! After a few races, I made the credits back which I spent on the car and looking to purchase something better. Great car to start your GT career.

The Licenses
Like previous editions of the game, Gran Turismo has it’s range of licenses starting from the simple B license right up to International A license. I managed to complete the B license really quickly, and even managing to get a Gold in one of the tests. Completing the B license allowed me to enter races which had better prize money when compared to the vintage ‘Sunday Cup’. I highly recommend anyone who is yet to start their career mode to complete as many of the licenses first before going out to race because remember the ‘levels’ I was talking about earlier? Well you accumulate level credits after each successful license test. Get gold and you get triple, get silver and you get double, get bronze and you don’t get anything extra.

Verdict
I may not have scratched the surface with this game but to put it plainly – IF YOU HAVEN’T GOT THE GAME, GET IT!

Thanks for reading guys and wishing you all the best for the week
Take Care
Andy Singh